Coal Pipe Testing & Balancing

Accurate & Repeatable Primary Air and Coal Flow Rate Testing

We have performed extractive testing on hundreds of mills across the US. Utilizing the state-of-the-art Advanced Coal Flow Measurement (ACFM) system, obtaining accurate and repeatable air and coal flow measurements is significantly simplified over manual extractive testing. Our engineers can also help design coal pipe orifices with our FINESSE two-phase network solver software, and your mill's performance can be quantified via fineness analysis.


The small, mobile system with remote can reach even the most inaccessible coal pipes.	A variety of probes allow us to test any size pipe and any number of ports.	All test functions are automated and computerized, minimizing operator error.	Automated report generation in MS Excel for instant results.

Coal Flow Loop Testing

ASC's laboratory houses the Coal Flow Loop, a high-tech research facility that is used to explore ways to optimize the combustion of pulverized coal in electric power plants.

The Lab features a closed-circuit, full scale coal pipe along with a fan, coal feeder, and dust collector. Pulverized coal can be circulated through the pipe to evaluate various extractive and on-line air and coal flow measurement instrumentation.

Supporting Documents

View the Project Fact Sheet distributed by the US Department of Energy outlining the scope of the project.

Robert Mudry, P.E. presented some of the revolutionary findings from the data obtained from the EPRI Coal Flow Measurement Facility, located on-site at ASC. "Pulverized Coal Extractive Testing Methods: Evaluation of the EPRI Coal Flow Loop" was presented at the COAL-GEN 2005 conference. Data from testing with both the ISO 9931 and ASME method were compared and contrasted, as were the effects of testing in proximity to an elbow.